Ceramic and glass business news of the week

PPG, which sold its flat glass operations to Vitro in 2016, now generates more than 90 percent of its sales from paints and coatings. The company plans to completely exit the glass business by the end of 2017, after the sale of its remaining fiberglass business to Nippon Electric Glass Co. for $545 million.

Saint-Gobain has inaugurated its float glass production plant located in Aniche-Emerchicourt in the North of France. The manufacturing equipment has been completely renovated and modernized for a total investment of about $34 million. With an annual output of 20 million square meters, the line produces glass for both the construction and the automotive markets.

A University of Waterloo facility is speeding adoption of industrial additive manufacturing equipment and processes on shop floors. Experts at the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing Lab, which is backed by nearly $27 million in cash and in-kind support, will help tap the enormous potential of 3-D printing.

Kyocera International Inc. announced that it has received class Y certification for its semiconductor assembly operations in San Diego, Calif. Class Y certifies ceramic non-hermetic semiconductor packages for use in space applications.

Tresa Pollock, chair of the materials department at the University of California Santa Barbara, has received a $3 million DOD award to develop a 3-D platform for discovering new materials capable of operating in extreme environments, such as those experienced by rockets, aircraft engines, and hypersonic flight vehicles.

The Edward Orton Jr. Ceramic Foundation has promoted Joseph Homeny to research and technical director. In addition, Brian Rayner has been promoted to fill Homeny’s position of testing services manager, and Beau Billet has been promoted to laboratory manager.

Saint-Gobain announced its renewed commitment to the U.S. DOE’s Better Plants Program and the Better Buildings Initiative, which works with leading manufacturers to improve energy efficiency to drive cost savings for the industrial sector. The company pledged to achieve an energy savings of 20% over the next 10 years.

Coined ‘Graphene City,’ the University of Manchester is home to over 250 researchers working on graphene and has over 70 industry partners, including high-profile companies Dyson, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Rolls-Royce, Samsung, Sharp, and Siemens.

Dual-listed glazing and glass manufacturer Metro Performance Glass has reported strong revenue growth on the back of the Kiwi construction boom. Revenues jumped 30% to $244.3 million, boosted by the addition of the Australian Glass Group which the company bought in September last year.

A Florida company is considering a country club for a factory that would make electricity-generating glass. Arthur Marino Jr., manager of Saf-Glas LLC of Riviera Beach, Fla., said the company is looking at the country club for an 80,000- to 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, headquarters, and research and development center.

NASA is seeking proposals from universities for early stage technology development that will support the agency’s long-term plans for human exploration of Mars and scientific study of our solar system and beyond.

A new TU Darmstadt racecar for the current Formula Student competition contains five ultralight 3-D-printed components from Heraeus. A steering shaft bearing made out of a special aluminum alloy is nearly 50% lighter than the previous component.